The Trump Era: Immigration hardliners take the helm at USCIS

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has been named acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

The Yappie
The Yappie
2 min readJun 16, 2019

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Editor’s Note: This is a preview of the June 16, 2019 edition of The Yappie, a newsletter about Asian American power, politics, and influence. Subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter every Sunday morning, with additional coverage and resources. Subscribe for free here.

IMMIGRATION HARDLINERS TAKE THE HELM AT USCIS: Last week, former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was named acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by acting Homeland Security Secretary Keven McAleenan. An immigration hardliner, Cuccinelli argued that states should invoke “war powers” to turn away an “invasion” of migrants from Central America seeking asylum in the U.S. and advocated for denying citizenship to American-born children of undocumented immigrants, NPR reports. Read more.

  • John Zadrozny, an ally to White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, is also set to join Cuccinelli at USCIS, according to POLITICO. Read more.

U.S. PURGING CHINESE CANCER RESEARCHERS FROM TOP INSTITUTIONS: The National Institutes of Health and the FBI are targeting ethnic Chinese scientists, including U.S. citizens, searching for a cancer cure as part of a wider U.S. campaign against economic espionage, Bloombergreports. Read more.

CHAO AIDE CREATED SPECIAL PATH FOR MCCONNELL’S FAVORED PROJECTS:The U.S. Department of Transportation under Secretary Elaine Chao designated a special liaison to help with grant applications and transportation projects in Kentucky as her husband Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) prepared to campaign for re-election,POLITICO reports. Read more.

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